I feel Occupy Wall Street is definitely misguided with their general assembly consensus model, and the lack of concrete demands put forward, but I will give them credit for knowing where the power center really is, and for going after Wall Street.

While I like to entertain anarcho/libertarian ideas, libertarians always seem to ignore the money power by blaming government for everything. Here is a link to a great article I found on this subject....

A quote in the comment section from a guy named Jimbo IMO hits the nail on the head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Libertarians, at the end of their ideological progression, want the “state to wither away”. Strange, but I recall Marxism stating, among other things, the same thing, the goal of the “state to wither away”, after some period of “adjustment” (it never happens). Both are unrealistic. Both are utopian, ideology driven world-views.

Please see Frederick List and the American System (a 19th century U. S. political-economy theory) where the government did have a role, and, under that system import tariffs were a principle component. And, under the ‘American System’, first promoted by Alexander Hamilton (too bad, there is evidence he had links to European bankers) and continued through the 19th century by Lincoln, advocated by Heny Clay, and others, the United States became the strongest economy in the world.

This is a fact.

Libertarians believe in so-called “free trade”, but “free trade” promotes labor arbitrage, Arbitrage is the nearly simultaneous purchase of a good or asset in one market where the price is low, and sale of the same good or asset in another market where the price is higher. This creates an international ‘race to the bottom’ that the Money Power is uniquely situated to take full advantage of, thus, principally labor is devalued, causing purchasing power & demand to decrease.

Libertarians want government to be only a “referee”, neutral in terms of outcome, but a totally free market almost invariably has the strong (or those willing to cheat, steal, and be morally ruthless) prevailing over the weak. The Money Power is strong in relationship to individuals (the Money Power has demonstrated, time and again, it is willing to “cheat, steal, and be morally ruthless” to conquer & dominate those that are will not “cheat, steal, and be morally ruthless” because of moral & ethical constraints. In other words, Libertarians, being utopians, ignore human nature, and, thus, in their ideological system, those that are willing to “cheat, steal, and be morally ruthless” rise to the top of the economic heap and end up oppressing others.

Groups, by and large, will prevail over individuals, thus, the Money Power (a very powerful group) will prevail over individuals in the economic race.

Yes, in the Libertarian system, monopoly capitalism ends up being the final result or simple cartel capitalism, which isn’t much different from monopoly capitalism in terms of the welfare of the individual.

To preserve the Free Enterprise System, a competitive system of choice and individual initiative, you need government to be more than a neutral “referee”.

And in this video the honest libertarian Bill Still explains the role for government and why it is good.